County Commissioners OK paramedics for Truckee Meadows fire stations

By May all of the fire stations in the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District will include a paramedic, marking an upgrade to the emergency medical services the Washoe County fire department already provides.

County commissioners unanimously gave that plan a green light on Tuesday, which will include filling up to nine vacant positions with firefighters who have paramedic training.

That would be an improvement over "emergency medical technicians" the Truckee Meadows fire department already employs. The difference comes down to the types drugs and procedures they're allowed to use in the field.

In the meantime, the county will need to get permission from the state to allow its Truckee Meadows firefighters to use their paramedic skills in the field. Some county firefighters who work for the Sierra Fire Protection District can already use those paramedic skills, something their fire department obtained before merging with the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District last year.

Commissioners said the paramedics will help their fire department provide the best-possible emergency medical services to residents in the unincorporated county, especially in areas far from the urban core of the Truckee Meadows. The upgraded paramedic status is expected to cost the fire department about $95,000 each year.

"If we save just one life, just one, it was worth it," said Commissioner Vaughn Hartung.

Commissioner David Humke said there has been "non-action" over the years to address paramedic response times to the far flung areas of the county.

"There's two sides to a contract and by golly nobody has talked about better serving those outlying areas," Humke said. He added it's not his intention to turn the county's fire department into an patient transport service, which is already done by REMSA, the Reno-based nonprofit that provides ambulance services in the region.

Jim Gubbels, the president and CEO of REMSA, said his organization did not recommend Washoe County expand its emergency medical services to include paramedics without doing more study.

"More evidence is needed to determine whether or not Truckee Meadows would benefit from the upgrade," Gubbels said.

The Reno Fire Department already has up to 30 firefighters with paramedic training, but they can not use those skills in the field because the city has not obtained permission from the state to do so, said Dennis Jacobsen, the president of the firefighters union Local 731.

"I think you're going to see the city much more receptive to doing it now that everyone around us is doing it," he said.